diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/capabilities/types.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/capabilities/types.ts
index 1472a428..f37035d4 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/capabilities/types.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/capabilities/types.ts
@@ -70,6 +70,11 @@ export interface ModelCapability {
     content: string;
     // BuiltinTools keys this capability owns; attached mid-turn on load.
     tools?: string[];
+    // Catalog visibility: when false, the capability is omitted from the
+    // loadSkill catalog (e.g. slack when no workspace is connected).
+    // Deliberately NOT a loadSkill fence — an explicitly-requested id still
+    // resolves, matching the historical excludeIds behavior. Defaults true.
+    availability?: () => Promise<boolean> | boolean;
 }
 
 // App/always-activated: an eager system-prompt contribution composed at
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/instructions.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/instructions.ts
index f4009352..d5fb4953 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/instructions.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/instructions.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { skillCatalog, buildSkillCatalog } from "./skills/index.js";
+import { skillCatalog, buildAvailableSkillCatalog } from "./skills/index.js";
 import { getRuntimeContext, getRuntimeContextPrompt } from "./runtime-context.js";
 import { composioAccountsRepo } from "../../composio/repo.js";
 import { isConfigured as isComposioConfigured } from "../../composio/client.js";
@@ -409,13 +409,11 @@ export async function buildCopilotInstructions(): Promise<string> {
             // knowledge sources unavailable — fall back to no channel hint
         }
     }
-    const excludeIds: string[] = [];
-    if (!composioEnabled) excludeIds.push('composio-integration');
-    if (!codeModeEnabled) excludeIds.push('code-with-agents');
-    if (!slackConnected) excludeIds.push('slack');
-    // Always build from the live skill set so disk skills added/removed at
-    // runtime (after refreshDiskSkills + cache invalidation) are reflected.
-    const catalog = buildSkillCatalog({ excludeIds });
+    // Catalog membership is each skill's own availability() (connection
+    // gates declared on the entries in skills/index.ts), evaluated against
+    // the live skill set so disk skills added/removed at runtime (after
+    // refreshDiskSkills + cache invalidation) are reflected.
+    const catalog = await buildAvailableSkillCatalog();
     const baseInstructions = buildStaticInstructions(composioEnabled, catalog, codeModeEnabled, slackConnected, slackChannelsHint, googleConnected);
     const composioPrompt = await getComposioToolsPrompt(slackConnected, googleConnected);
     cachedInstructions = composioPrompt
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.test.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.test.ts
index 48784e27..71056630 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.test.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.test.ts
@@ -200,3 +200,32 @@ describe("capability activation boundary", () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+describe("availability (catalog visibility)", () => {
+  it("drops unavailable entries from the catalog but keeps ungated ones", async () => {
+    const { filterAvailableEntries, buildCatalogFromEntries } = await import("./index.js");
+    const entries = [
+      { id: "always-on", title: "Always", summary: "s", content: "c" },
+      { id: "connected", title: "Connected", summary: "s", content: "c", availability: () => true },
+      { id: "disconnected", title: "Disconnected", summary: "s", content: "c", availability: async () => false },
+    ];
+    const available = await filterAvailableEntries(entries);
+    expect(available.map((e) => e.id)).toEqual(["always-on", "connected"]);
+
+    const catalog = buildCatalogFromEntries(available);
+    expect(catalog).toContain("always-on");
+    expect(catalog).toContain("connected");
+    expect(catalog).not.toContain("disconnected");
+  });
+
+  it("the connection-gated bundled skills declare availability", async () => {
+    const skills = await import("./index.js");
+    const catalog = skills.buildSkillCatalog();
+    // The ungated builder still lists them (loadSkill resolves explicit ids
+    // regardless of availability — visibility gating is catalog-only).
+    for (const id of ["composio-integration", "code-with-agents", "slack"]) {
+      expect(catalog).toContain(id);
+      expect(skills.resolveSkill(id)).not.toBeNull();
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.ts
index bcbfc5e2..d21c7d47 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/application/assistant/skills/index.ts
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ const definitions: SkillDefinition[] = [
   },
   {
     id: "composio-integration",
+    availability: isComposioAvailable,
     title: "Composio Integration",
     summary: "Interact with third-party services (Gmail, GitHub, Slack, LinkedIn, Notion, Jira, Google Sheets, etc.) via Composio. Search, connect, and execute tools.",
     content: composioIntegrationSkill,
@@ -131,6 +132,7 @@ const definitions: SkillDefinition[] = [
   },
   {
     id: "code-with-agents",
+    availability: isCodeModeAvailable,
     title: "Code with Agents",
     summary: "Write code, build projects, create scripts, or fix bugs by delegating to Claude Code or Codex.",
     content: codeWithAgentsSkill,
@@ -178,9 +180,8 @@ const definitions: SkillDefinition[] = [
     tools: ["browser-control", "load-browser-skill"],
   },
   {
-    // Excluded from the catalog when Slack isn't connected (see
-    // buildCopilotInstructions excludeIds), mirroring composio-integration.
     id: "slack",
+    availability: isSlackAvailable,
     title: "Slack",
     summary: "Read, search, and send Slack messages via the agent-slack CLI — catch up on channels, summarize threads, list users. Load FIRST for ANY Slack request; Slack is connected natively, never through Composio.",
     content: slackSkill,
@@ -237,12 +238,67 @@ function getSkillEntries(): SkillEntry[] {
   return [...bundledEntries, ...diskEntries];
 }
 
+// ---- Availability checks (catalog visibility) ----
+// Connection-state gates for the catalog, evaluated per build. Repos resolve
+// lazily so this module keeps no static edge into the DI graph; any failure
+// reads as "not available" (the historical default).
+
+async function isComposioAvailable(): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const { isConfigured } = await import("../../../composio/client.js");
+    return await isConfigured();
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+async function isCodeModeAvailable(): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const { lazyResolve } = await import("../../../di/lazy-resolve.js");
+    const repo = await lazyResolve<import("../../../code-mode/repo.js").ICodeModeConfigRepo>("codeModeConfigRepo");
+    return (await repo.getConfig()).enabled;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+async function isSlackAvailable(): Promise<boolean> {
+  try {
+    const { lazyResolve } = await import("../../../di/lazy-resolve.js");
+    const repo = await lazyResolve<import("../../../slack/repo.js").ISlackConfigRepo>("slackConfigRepo");
+    const config = await repo.getConfig();
+    return config.enabled && config.workspaces.length > 0;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+// Pure availability filter over an explicit entry list (exported for tests):
+// entries without an availability check are kept; checks are evaluated
+// concurrently and a false drops the entry from the CATALOG only (loadSkill
+// still resolves explicit ids, matching the historical excludeIds behavior).
+export async function filterAvailableEntries<T extends { availability?: () => Promise<boolean> | boolean }>(
+  entries: readonly T[],
+): Promise<T[]> {
+  const verdicts = await Promise.all(
+    entries.map((entry) => (entry.availability ? entry.availability() : true)),
+  );
+  return entries.filter((_, i) => verdicts[i]);
+}
+
+// The catalog restricted to currently-available skills — what
+// buildCopilotInstructions embeds in the system prompt.
+export async function buildAvailableSkillCatalog(): Promise<string> {
+  return buildCatalogFromEntries(await filterAvailableEntries(getSkillEntries()));
+}
+
 /**
- * Build a skill catalog string, optionally excluding specific skills by ID.
- * Reads the live skill set, so it reflects disk skills added/removed at runtime.
+ * Build a skill catalog string from the live skill set (availability
+ * ignored), so it reflects disk skills added/removed at runtime. The
+ * system prompt uses buildAvailableSkillCatalog instead.
  */
-export function buildSkillCatalog(options?: { excludeIds?: string[] }): string {
-  return buildCatalogFromEntries(getSkillEntries(), options);
+export function buildSkillCatalog(): string {
+  return buildCatalogFromEntries(getSkillEntries());
 }
 
 // Pure catalog builder over an explicit entry list (exported for the
@@ -251,15 +307,11 @@ export function buildSkillCatalog(options?: { excludeIds?: string[] }): string {
 // by the assembly layer, never offered for loadSkill.
 export function buildCatalogFromEntries(
   all: ReadonlyArray<CapabilityDefinition & { catalogPath?: string }>,
-  options?: { excludeIds?: string[] },
 ): string {
   // The type-guard filter must keep the catalogPath intersection alive.
-  const modelEntries = all.filter(
+  const entries = all.filter(
     (e): e is ModelCapability & { catalogPath?: string } => isModelActivated(e),
   );
-  const entries = options?.excludeIds
-    ? modelEntries.filter(e => !options.excludeIds!.includes(e.id))
-    : modelEntries;
   const sections = entries.map((entry) => [
     `## ${entry.title}`,
     `- **Skill file:** \`${entry.catalogPath ?? `${CATALOG_PREFIX}/${entry.id}/skill.ts`}\``,
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/lazy-resolve.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/lazy-resolve.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3eb65fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/di/lazy-resolve.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// Lazily import the DI container and resolve one token. Use this instead of
+// a static `import container from "./container.js"` when the importing
+// module must not add a static edge into the DI graph (the container's
+// module tree is large, and some importers — the agent registry, tool
+// handlers, capability availability checks — are themselves imported while
+// the container initializes). One helper holds the pattern and this
+// rationale instead of hand-rolled copies at every call site.
+export async function lazyResolve<T>(token: string): Promise<T> {
+    const { default: container } = await import("./container.js");
+    return container.resolve<T>(token);
+}